GUN 
frequently driven to the right or left of that direction 
by the adlion of feme other force: and in the 8th pro- 
pofition, he pretends to fliow that the depths of pene¬ 
tration of balls into firm fubftances are as the fquares of 
the velocities. But this is a mifkake; for neither does 
jt appear that his trials were fufficiently numerous or 
various, nor were his fmall leaden balls fit for this pur- 
pofe ; and it has appeared, from a number of trials with 
jron cannon-balls, that the penetrations are in.a much 
lower proportion, and that the refitting force of wood 
is not uniform. See Dr. Hutton's Tratts. 
Mr. Robins profecutes the fubjedt of the refiftance of 
the air much farther, and lays down rules for comput¬ 
ing ranges made in the air. But thefe muft be far from ac¬ 
curate, as they are founded on the two following princi- 
les, which are known, from numerous experiments, to 
e erroneous: viz. ift, “That till the velocity of the 
projedtile furpaifes that of 1100 feet in a fecond, the re¬ 
finance may be efteemed to be in the duplicate propor¬ 
tion of the velocity. 2d, That if the velocity be greater 
than that of 1100 feet in a fecond, then the abfolute 
quantity of that refiftance in thefe greater velocities will 
be near three times as great as it fliould be by a compa- 
■rifon with the fmaller velocities.” For, inftead of leap¬ 
ing at once from the law of the fquare of the velocities, 
and ever after being about three times as much, expe¬ 
riments prove that the increafe of the refiftance above 
the law of the iquare of the velocity, takes place at 
firft in the fmalleft motions, and increafes gradually 
more and more, to a certain point, but never rifes fo 
high as to be three times that quantity, after which it 
decreafes again. To render this evident, Dr. Hutton 
has inferted the following table of the adtual quantities 
of refiftances, which are deduced from accurate experi¬ 
ments, and which fliow alfo the nature of the law of 
the variations, by means of the columns of differences 
annexed ; referving the detail of the experiments them- 
felves to another occafion. Thefe refi(lances are, upon 
a ball 1*965 inches diameter in avoirdupois ounces, and 
are for all velocities from o up to that of 2000 feet per 
fecond of time. 
yoL. IX. No. 571. 
GUN m 
“ I have (continues Dr. Hutton) dwelt thus long on 
Mr. Robins’s New Principles of Gunnery, becaufe it is 
the firft work that can be confidered as attempting to 
eftablifh.a pradtical fyftem of gunnery and projectiles, 
on good experiments, on the force of gunpowder, on the 
refiftance of the air, and on the effedts of different pieces 
of artillery. Thofe experiments are however not fuf¬ 
ficiently perfedt, both on account of the fmallnefs of 
the bullets, and for want of good ranges, to form a pro¬ 
per theory upon. I have fupplied fome of the necef- 
lary defiderata for this purpofe, viz. the refiftance of 
the air to cannon-balls moving with ail degrees of velo¬ 
city, and the velocities communicated by given charges 
of powder to different balls, and from different pieces 
of artillery. But there are (till wanting good experi¬ 
ments with different pieces' of ordnance, giving the 
ranges and times of flight, with all varieties of charges, 
and at all different angles of elevation. A few, how¬ 
ever, of thofe 1 have obtained, as in the following final! 
table, which are derived from experiments made with 
a medium, one-pounder gun, the- iron ball being nearly 
two inches in diameter: 
Powder. 
Elev. 
of Gun. 
Velocity 
of Ball. 
Range. 
Time 
of flight. 
oz. 
0 
feet 
feet 
» 
2 
>5 
860 
4100 
9 . 
4 
»5 
1230 
5100 
12 
8 
15 
1640 
6000 
*4 h 
12 
*5 
1680 
6700 
2 
45 
860 
5100 
21 
The celebrated Mr. Euler has added many excel¬ 
lent differtations on the fubjedtof gunnery, in his tranf- 
lation of Robins’s Gunnery into the German language y 
which were again farther improved in Brown’s tranfla- 
tion.of the fame into Englifh, in 1777. See alfo Anto¬ 
ni’s Examcn di la Poudre; the experiments of MM, 
D’Arcy and Le Roy, in the Memoirs of the Royal Aca¬ 
demy in 1751 ; and D’Arcy’s EJJ'ai d'ttne Tkeorie d'Artil- 
leric, in 1760: Dr. Hutton’s Tradls; and paper on the 
force of fired gunpowder in the Philofophical Tranfac- 
tions for 1778. Of the common or parabolic theory of 
gunnery, Mr. Simplon has given a very neat and con- 
-cife treatife in his Seledl Exercifes. 
GUN'NING (Peter), a learned Englifh prelate, born 
at How in Kent, in 1613, and educated at Clare-hall, in 
the univerfity of Cambridge. Soon after he had taken 
his degree of M. A. he was appointed a fellow of Clare- 
hall: and when matters were approaching towards a 
crifis between the king and parliament, lie diftinguiftied 
. himfelf by the zeal with which he defended his majefty’s 
politics in his pulpit difeourfes. By this condudt he 
excited the indignation of the parliament party, who 
fubjedted him to a fhort imprifonment, and then order¬ 
ed him to his college, where the Covenant was tendered 
to him for fubfeription. Upon his firm refufal to fub- 
mit to that impofition, he was ejedled from his fellow- 
fliip; when he determined to withdraw to Oxford, 
where the king at that time held his court. Before he 
left Cambridge, however, in conjundlion with Mr. Bar- 
row, afterward bifhop of St. Afaph, Mr. Ward, after¬ 
wards bifhop of Salifbury, and fome other friends, he 
drew up a fpirited treatife againft the Covenant, which 
was publifhed in 1643. Upon his arrival at Oxford in 
1644, Mr. Gunning met with a hofpitable reception from 
Dr. Pink, warden of New College, who appointed him 
one of the chaplains of that foundation. In this fitua- 
tion he was fometimes fixed upon to preach before the 
king, or his Oxford parliament; on which account the 
ujuverfity complimented him with the degree of bache¬ 
lor of divinity, in the year 1646, After the furrender 
of Oxford to the parliament, he became tutor, firft to 
H h Chriftopher 
